57 Comments

• MissingIreland | Mar 31, 2011, 01:13 PM EDT

  To my friends in Ireland: May I say, from the U.S., that this trip is primarily a photo op. and vote getting stunt trying to show Americans that he cares about you. Hell, he doesn't even care about Americans (unless their registered democrats), so what are your chances? I say you have many pressing problems to deal with right now that are far more important than "entertaining" this guy. Ireland! Show him the door!!!!!!!!

• Oonaghx | Mar 30, 2011, 10:33 PM EDT

  guiseppe - This man is a joke! There are those of us that feel he should never have been elected in the first place. It has nothing to do with a "lack of civility", its about giving a person the most important job in the US when that person does not have the ability or experience to do it. There is so much riding on this position but, Obama took one look at the job description saw that travel was involved and applied. Little did the well intentioned citizens that voted for him realize that the hope and change he chanted about was a load of BS.

• guiseppe | Mar 30, 2011, 09:58 PM EDT

  I'm stunned by the lack of civility of some of the comments made regarding President Obama. Lord help us.

• kateomprint | Mar 30, 2011, 06:12 PM EDT

  Maybe he shouldn't bother flying into ireland at all and just go straight to Britain hardly seems worth our while going through all this for just five hours

• hyattsville | Mar 30, 2011, 02:23 PM EDT

  AAAArg Doc. The paranoids have taken over the computer room and are hammering away with the caps locked. Up the antipsychotic meds quick.

• Irishjule | Mar 30, 2011, 01:57 PM EDT

  IF THE IRISH ARE LUCKY, HE WON'T COME AT ALL. HE IS THE MOST EGOTISTICAL, SOCIALISTIC, VACATION-LOVING, CONSTITUTION-IGNORING STUFFED SHIRT THAT HAS EVER BEEN IN THE WHITE HOUSE. HE DOESN'T CARE ABOUT AMERICA AND HE DOESN'T CARE ABOUT IRELAND. HE LIKES THE POWER AND PRESTIGE OF THE PRESIDENCY OF THE U. S.

• Woodkern | Mar 30, 2011, 12:48 PM EDT

  JeanneTherese, put down the meth pipe and take your keyboard off caps lock.

• JeanneTherese | Mar 30, 2011, 10:36 AM EDT

  YOU ARE BLESSED THAT HE WILL ONLY BE THERE 5 HOURS. HE IS JUST USING OUR TAX DOLLARS HERE IN USA TO GET FREE TRAVEL. HE IS THE WORST PRESIDENT THE USA HAS EVER HAD AND DOES NOT DESERVE TO BE WELCOMED IN HIGH FASHION IN IRELAND OR ANY OTHER PLACE FOR THAT MATTER. HIS HISTORY OF BEING IRISH DNA IS FUNNY...WE DON'T EVEN KNOW IF HE WAS BORN HERE IN USA. HE HIDES SO MUCH FROM US AND DOES TOO MANY THING BEHIND CLOSED DOORS. MAN(HE)TALKS WITH FORKED TONGUE. BEWARE! HE IS MUSLIM AND IN BED WITH HAMAS....KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY AND PRAY THAT GOD IS AT YOUR BACKS.

• antoman | Mar 30, 2011, 09:11 AM EDT

  I'll see your Queen and President Obama and raise you a Prince Albert of Monaco.

• Realist | Mar 30, 2011, 05:18 AM EDT

  Well, the 5-hour stop over 'visit' sounds about right. It's commensurate with Ireland's place in the World and the US pecking order. A debt-ridden third World country off the North West coast of mainland Europe desperately seeking attention and financial aid.

• Advocate | Mar 29, 2011, 11:57 PM EDT

  How much is this useless 'Vacation' costing We the SHEEPle? Why do we tolerate, and pay for, this hogwash? We don't care! Sad, but true....

• Advocate | Mar 29, 2011, 10:23 PM EDT

  If Obama's plane takes off late from Washington DC he may have to sacrifice the 5 hour Irish visit and fly direct to England. Is a 5 hours visit worth the effort?

• merlemann55 | Mar 29, 2011, 09:22 PM EDT

  I think it is a waste of money and an insult to Ireland. You would do all Americans a favor if you kept him there.

• peterson | Mar 29, 2011, 09:11 PM EDT

  He has lost favor in the USA with the intelligent citizens! No further comment.

• hollabackgurl | Mar 29, 2011, 06:51 PM EDT

  God, there are more trolls per square foot here than in a Norwegian fairytale.

• EdMahoney | Mar 29, 2011, 05:18 PM EDT

  'Tis a shame that O'Bama will stay such a short time. We here in the states were hoping that you'd keep him at least 'til 2013!!! Ed

• hyattsville | Mar 29, 2011, 04:16 PM EDT

  Woodkern you are right. I was thinking that I would stop reading any further articles in Irish Central about President Obama, as not only do I get annoyed by the ignorant and ridiculous comments but I am mortified to think that I share ethnicity with the hateful respondents. Yeah Niall an accidental tourist to your site might seriously get the wrong impression. You have a serious Fox5 following.

• belfastgirl1 | Mar 29, 2011, 04:00 PM EDT

  Good!!! Making it zero would be better. It will save the people of Ireland a lot of money.

• NGrandquis | Mar 29, 2011, 03:44 PM EDT

  I think he should spend the night at the castle that the US (Republican) Ambassdaor to Ireland Dan Rooney chooses for him and that's all it will take and he'll come back time and time again. Also, I think the Ambassador should arrange for an official hoolie to be held for our great President to celebrate his achievement of health care reform when other Presidents simply could not get it done. We are a much kindler and gentler more respected nation because of his efforts and it evidently took a President that was half Black and part Irish to get the job done finally...what a hero!!!

• RichardP | Mar 29, 2011, 03:44 PM EDT

  Wow, aren't we Irish lucky! An American President will grace us with his presence for nearly a quarter of a day! Yippee! IF this is true it is undoubtedly the most patronizing act committed by a US leader in relation to Ireland in a very long time - sure you matter Paddy, but not a whole heck of a lot. Don't bother Barack, sure you won't even be able to make it to Moneygall and back to the airport. No pubs with your picture, no "Barack was here"posters, Ireland might never be the same. I doubt anyone will care that he doesn't care..

• nicgearailt | Mar 29, 2011, 03:31 PM EDT

  it's a big thank you to the member who tabulated that George W Bush spent more days away from the White House.it saved the citizens from any more of his "decision points"...whew!! As for a 5 hour visit...I think President Obama would know better than to agree to that...that would be disrespectful... So stop spreading inaccurate information...

• Searlit | Mar 29, 2011, 02:43 PM EDT

  I think if President Obama only spends five hours in Ireland, he will make another trip there, because he will see, for himself how beautiful it is. I'm sure there will be a warm Irish welcome for him, which will bring out the Irish in him.

• Woodkern | Mar 29, 2011, 01:42 PM EDT

  Given how any mention of the President attacts spiteful wingnuts to these comment boards like sugar does ants, Niall O'Dowd may indeed become Fox's strongest competition!

• porkheaven | Mar 29, 2011, 01:42 PM EDT

  You lucky Irish wish he could stay for an extended period of time say 5 years.

• BurrRobson | Mar 29, 2011, 01:36 PM EDT

  Obama's trip is nothing but a photo op. And as far as the comment about Bush's many vacations, first get over old hate and second try to think through it and acknowledge that Bush was always working while on his ranch. Maybe he just wanted to get breaks from the DC phonies and back stabbers. Back to Obama, all presidents go on photo ops.

• thurley | Mar 29, 2011, 01:29 PM EDT

  5 hours luck of the Irish. If you played 18 a little faster he would not be in country so long

• McNamara31 | Mar 29, 2011, 01:12 PM EDT

  hyattsville..Your post rings so true and no one said a word when Bush took presidential vacations to a whole new level. Let's face it, with some of the posters, Obama can't win no matter what he does, and how good of a job he is doing. Ireland, Obama is a good president and a good man. I do hope he can spend a bit more time...But be sure if he does, they will just rip him apart here in the states for that also.

• haikued2 | Mar 29, 2011, 01:06 PM EDT

  You want him longer? We can work out a trade with the Service Workers Union or the Teachers Union. Read his two books...he expressed disdain for the white side of his heritage, now he needs Irish American votes. He is doing some good things and some not so good things, but he is not one of America's GREAT presidents.

• koxykatz | Mar 29, 2011, 01:00 PM EDT

  I'm one half Irish myself and although some are feeling lucky he is graceing Irish shores for five hours, I feel like they may be luckier he isn't. Seems like his loyalties may be elsewhere. In the USA we're stuck with him almost 2 more years. This just seems like a photo-op to me

• John G. Hogan | Mar 29, 2011, 12:58 PM EDT

  Why waste the time and the $$$.........after all, he says he is an African-American, not an Irish-American

• antoman | Mar 29, 2011, 12:58 PM EDT

  In a certain town in Ireland.There will be an awful lot of calfs that look an awful lot like foals.What an idiot.Killing the towns only bull to feed Obama and he only getting off the plane long enough so he can say he urinated in Ireland.

• modo313445 | Mar 29, 2011, 12:49 PM EDT

  It is an insult to the Irish people. It is nothing but a political photo-op. It is a quick, politically motivated stop on his way to a much more "important" visit to England. I'm afraid this kind of politics is what the American people havecome to expect.

• hyattsville | Mar 29, 2011, 12:48 PM EDT

  Again most of you are completely ignorant about the President’s job, success rate to date, and diplomatic trips to foreign nations. Point of fact is that in his presidency George W Bush actually spent less time in Washington than any other president ever ever ever. Most Irish that I know are very honored that Obama is visiting 5 hours or no. Stop with the constant whining and negativity, it hurts my head.

• Paradigm | Mar 29, 2011, 12:43 PM EDT

  Whatever ultimately happens - 5 hours!! How very bloody patronising.

• jdi2269 | Mar 29, 2011, 12:38 PM EDT

  IRELAND, COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS! HE CAN'T DESTROY YOUR COUNTRY IN 5 HOURS! LOOK WHAT HE'S DONE TO AMERICA!

• brent46 | Mar 29, 2011, 12:27 PM EDT

  What a bunch of negative people we have on here. Obama is a great president of the U.S. We are very fortunate to have him lead us through these troubled times. Ireland, the land of my birth, will welcome him with open arms.

• feeneycj | Mar 29, 2011, 12:18 PM EDT

  please stay there longer. How about a few months in Kenya? Your dear grandmother would love to see you.

• longislander1940 | Mar 29, 2011, 11:59 AM EDT

  Mr. Obama, please stay home and get this country back in shape. What is this trip costing and why are you stopping there anyway? There is no need for it.

• Carolanndriver | Mar 29, 2011, 11:51 AM EDT

  Really? Niall, you should run for any US Republican Congressional seat - you would fit right in...all you can do is COMPLAIN about every little thing. He has much more important things to do than stop over in Ireland - be thankful he's coming, roll out the red carpet, wave as he goes by, and find something else to complain about.

• micky74007 | Mar 29, 2011, 11:30 AM EDT

  He has spent more than 5 hours telling the world how he is respecting his Irish roots. Please keep him as long as you want. Tell him about your golf courses. He'll never leave. This man is an insult to his office.

• cillowen | Mar 29, 2011, 11:13 AM EDT

  he should forget about it - he's only a distraction for their queen's visit.

• edmundburke | Mar 29, 2011, 11:08 AM EDT

  It was only when Obama was running for President in 2007 and was perceived at having a shot at winning that he learned for the first time, through the regular efforts of Irish geneologists who track the heritage of prominent American politicians for the benefit of the Irish government, that he was of Irish descent. He had no notion of it through his family and doubtless neither his mother nor his grandparents had a clue about their Irish descent. Accordingly, when Obama became a politician in Illinois, he drew the conclusion that of all the groups he came in contact with, he probably had the least in common with the Irish Catholics who figure greatly in the state's politics on both side of the aisle. Imagine his surprise upon finding that he was ethnically linked with all those Blue Dog Democrats who ran Chicago's city hall and downstate and suburban Irish Catholic Republicans who opposed his initiatives in Springfield? I am sure that he thinks that his Irish heritage is a bizarre irony, and that therefore he has no problem limiting his trip to the "home of his ancestors" to a few hours drop in ("Let's just do it and get it over with"). It likely pains him to be "acting Irish" when he arrives in Ireland, so the quicker the visit the better. It is only a sop to an important constituency in the Democratic Party, and his heart just isn't into it.

• pounder | Mar 29, 2011, 10:41 AM EDT

  Keep him Ireland, please, keep him.

• walleyeman | Mar 29, 2011, 10:30 AM EDT

  Only 5 hours, I would call that the luck of the Irish.

• Aylward | Mar 29, 2011, 10:16 AM EDT

  That's five hours more than he spent with the estimated hundred thousand union members & union supporters protesting in Wisconsin against the GOP's wipeout of collective bargaining. This despite Obama's campaign pledge: "And understand this: If Americans workers are being denied their rights to organize and collectively bargain when I'm in the White House, I'll put on a comfortable pair of shoes myself; I'll walk on that picket line with you as president of the United States of America because workers deserve to know that somebody's standing in their corner." - Barack Obama, during his presidential campaign Just be glad you don't have major oil resources or you'd be next in line after Libya for a real US invasion. I worked hard for his election and feel like I got a Trojan Horse with a Pandora's Box inside.

• Skibberrean | Mar 29, 2011, 10:09 AM EDT

  Instead of flitting around the world like a flea and spending more of our money that we do not have, he should stay home and show us his birth certificate. Maybe find someone that remembers him from college. And NO I am not a Birther, which is another ignorant term. I just want to know who is really in OUR WHITE HOUSE.It is odd that you can find other Presidents records, but not little Barry's. Personally, I hope he chokes on his pint of Guinness!!!

• EileenOfarrell | Mar 29, 2011, 10:02 AM EDT

  How much will that five hours cost the American and Irish taxpayers? Hmmm.

• irishwxman | Mar 29, 2011, 09:54 AM EDT

  Consider yourselves lucky. We have to keep him around for another 2 years. I wish he was only going to be president for 5 hours.

• antoman | Mar 29, 2011, 09:53 AM EDT

  This morning in Moneygall a family argued.Father and mother were having boiled eggs and they fought over who should get to use the spoon first.The children wept because they had no boiled eggs.The roof leaked and there was a man at the door asking to see the television license and they not able to afford a license for the dog.

• hyattsville | Mar 29, 2011, 09:46 AM EDT

  Some of you are ridiculously ignorant in referring to the President’s shuttlestop diplomatic visits as ‘holidays’. Fact is that in Dubya’s tenure the following was spent away from the White House (holidaying and otherwise) - 487 days in Camp David, 490 days at his Texan Ranch, 43 days in Ma & Paw’s home in Kennebunkport, Out Of Town Domestic Trips – 609, Number Of Foreign Nations Visited -75. In fact during his presidency Bush actually spent less time in Washington than any other president.

• unconvinced | Mar 29, 2011, 09:42 AM EDT

  Total waste of money having him here at all. He is not even a true american.

• ciarrai | Mar 29, 2011, 09:40 AM EDT

  To LinLinisme: speak for yourself. President Obama has more decency, dignity and brains than any five recent Republicans you could mention. Now, if he could concentrate on jobs, jobs, jobs, this guy who voted for him would be happier. And, he's got to spend more than 5 hours in Ireland. Come on, Obama.

• borefield | Mar 29, 2011, 09:34 AM EDT

  OMG, I'm so dissapointed!. I was really hoping Ireland would find a way to keep him. What a right bunch of fools the Irish are. Don't they realize he really doesn't give a fiddlers dam for Ireland or the Irish people. It's an insult and yes, it's a photo op for votes. A country that is so broke, spending hundreads of thousands of Euros to greet, protect and prepare food which, I might add he will not eat, is so STUPID. Ireland, get a grip. People in Ireland are barely able to make ends meet and this money would be better spent to give to those that need it.

• LinLinisme | Mar 29, 2011, 09:27 AM EDT

  having fun isn't he. He want a vacation at the Americans expense. Have you fun , cause we don't want you here in America.

• DLW12183 | Mar 29, 2011, 09:24 AM EDT

  The whole trip is noting more than a photo-op to get the Irish American vote. This guy is in campaign mode 24/7/365. He doesn't know how to "work", only campaign. Shows in his decisions and pick of czars. When will the Irish wake up and see they are being used?

• colkelley | Mar 29, 2011, 09:21 AM EDT

  Obama will be there for only five hours? More than 100 Million Americans are envious.

• antoman | Mar 29, 2011, 09:17 AM EDT

  So he's staying for just five minutes.There's a man up the country feels like a right eejit now.He had killed the towns only bull and hung it in a shed to age the meat.Only for Obama to be here for as long as it takes to eat an apple.